Color schemes

• Analogous: Colors that contain a common hue and are found next to each other on the color wheel, e.g., violet, red-violet, and red create a sense of harmony. Remember adjoining colors on the wheel are similar and tend to blend together. They are effective at showing depth.
• Complementary: Two colors opposite one another on the color wheel, e.g., blue and orange, yellow and purple, red and green. When a pair of high intensity complements are placed side by side, they seem to vibrate and draw attention to the element Not all color schemes, based on complementary colors are loud and demanding -- if the hues are of low-intensity the contrast is not too harsh. Intensity can only be altered by mixing a color with its complement, which has the effect of visually neutralizing the color. Changing the values of the hues, adding black or white, will soften the effect.
• Cool colors: Suggest coolness and seem to recede from a viewer and fall back, e.g., blue and green are the colors of water and trees).
• Double complementary: Two adjacent hues and their opposites. it uses four colors arranged into two complementary color pairs. This scheme is hard to harmonize; if all four colors are used in equal amounts, the scheme may look unbalanced, so you should choose a color to be dominant or subdue the colors.
• Intensity: Brightness or dullness of a color. A pure hue is a high-intensity color. A dulled hue, a color mixed with its complement is called a low-intensity color.
• Intermediate: Colors created by mixing a primary and a secondary: Red-orange, yellow-orange, yellow-green, blue-green, blue-purple, and red-purple.
• Monochromatic: One color. A monochromatic color scheme uses only one hue (color) and all values (shades or tints) of it for a unifying and harmonious effect.
• Neutral colors: Contain equal parts of each of the three primary colors - black, white, gray, and sometimes brown are considered "neutral". When neutrals are added to a color only the value changes, however; if you try to make a color darker by adding a darker color to it the color (hue) changes.
  
  Consider that black and white are thought of as neutrals because they do not change color.
• Primary: Red, yellow, and blue
• Secondary: By mixing two primary colors, you create a secondary color: Red + yellow =orange; yellow + blue = green; and blue + red = purple (violet)
• Split complements: The combination of one hue plus the hues on each side of its complement. This is easier to work with than a straight complementary scheme. It offers more variety, e.g., red-orange, blue, and green.
• Triad: A color triad is composed of three colors spaced an equal distance apart on the color wheel. The contrast between triad colors is not as strong as that between complements.
• Warm colors: Suggest warmth and seem to move toward the viewer and appear closer, e.g., red and orange are the colors of fire. Remember that warm colors appear larger than cool colors.